During Saturday’s ride, thoughts were dancing in my head about coming back for more on Sunday.
Wasn’t completely sure I would go through with that, until I woke up at 5:30am. Since I apparently was not going to sleep in, I banged out my morning routine, gathered my riding gear and bolted out the door.
Only one other truck-n-trailer was in the Washington Street parking lot in Tupper Lake when I got there shortly after 9am. A few others rolled in while I was unloading, including Mike Vaillancourt who recognized me.
Got a text from Damion that he was heading to Lake Placid again to ride from there. Worked out fine because I was planning to ride there first!
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To Lake Placid
C7/Rail trail from Tupper Lake to Lake Clear ranged from almost smooth to slight studder-ripple, pretty good leftovers from Saturday.
Lake Clear through Metro Saranac Lake to Lake Placid via C7B/Rail trail was fantastic!
Encountered at least a couple dozen snowmobilers leaving Lake Placid. Also passed by cross country skiers, dog walkers and a guy riding a fat-tire bike. Lots of people were enjoying the rail trail!
When I got to Lake Placid, Damion gave an ETA of 20 minutes. That gave me enough time to double back to Ray Brook to burn off time. Can’t say I was disappointed to backtrack over this!
Returned to Lake Placid just after Damion and friend unloaded their snowmobiles. Perfect timing!
To Charlies and northward
Lake Placid to Charlies Inn via C7B/Rail trail was getting rippled from Sunday’s traffic; but holding up enough to keep the good times rolling.
C7/Pole trail through Gabriels and Rainbow Lake was tattered from weekend traffic. Base was worn thin in places with pebbles kicking around at times.
Caught a nearly fresh groom between Rainbow Lake and Loon Lake for FUN pole riding!
Nice pow-pow on a rest pull off:
We got into some bumps and occasional floating pebbles again from FRAN3 to FRAN6 intersections.
Took the turn onto C8A/Wolf Pond Road and found Sunday’s Gold Star Riding!
Beautiful riding on C8A for 8 miles to Frankin/Clinton County line. Also, groomer tracks on C8A coming from Lyon Mountain, but we didn’t press further.
Doubled back to Charlies Inn for mid-day lunch. Was nice to get out of the cold for a while. I opted for the grilled chicken sandwich and a side of onion rings, one of my lighter lunch fares on the trail. Hit the spot for what I wanted today.
Back to Tupper Lake
After lunch, Damion and friend headed back to Lake Placid and I headed back to Tupper Lake.
C7/Rail trail had light to modest chop. But bumps were soft and low enough to allow a speedy dash back to the truck. Got back before sundown with 147 miles for the ride.
Another fun day at the office!
Ride map
Click here for ride stats, larger map and 3D Flyover
Bottom line
I had an awesome weekend and I hope you did too! It’s not often I bag three quality rides during opening week of snowmobiling season. Thursday night’s weather will probably sh-t on us. But we get through it, soldier on to the other side and start rolling track again. We’ve got ALL winter ahead of us.
That’s a great place to be!
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
